The Owen Jones Podcast

Rishi Sunak's ill-deserved popularity has finally crashed. His positive approval ratings were entirely fuelled by furlough in the Covid era - but now policies which are hammering working people who have suffered the longest squeeze in wages since the Napoleonic era have come to bite. Just how bad are his economic policies - and what is the alternative? We are joined by Gary Stevenson - former Citi...

As P&O sack 800 staff - many by video message, others marched off ships like criminals - and reportedly replace them with Eastern European workers on £2.60 an hour, what does this say about Britain's woefully unjust economic model - and how do we fight back? We are joined by Mick Lynch - general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union. Please subscribe - and help us take on t...

At least 1,200 Ukrainians are believed to have died in Mariupol alone - killed by Putin's brutal invasion of the country - while thousands of Russian soldiers may be dead. As Russia becomes bogged down in Ukraine, the war is becoming increasingly violent - and a horrific siege of Kyiv may be imminent. Rumours abound too that Putin may resort to chemical weapons. How badly is the invasion going for...

At the end of 2013, a letter apparently setting out an Islamist extremist plot take over schools was set to Birmingham City Council: it prompted a massive national scandal, official inquiries and changes to the law. One small problem: it was fake. The viral hit Trojan Horse Affair podcast - presented by Serial's Brian Reed and Hamza Syed - brilliantly set out the astonishing truth about this scand...

As Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine continues with catastrophic human consequences - just how bad can things get? What sort of atrocities could Putin's regime inflict to subjugate the nation, including conquering its cities, not least Kyiv? And with siren voices in the West calling for a No Fly Zone - which would entail war with a nuclear armed power - is an apocalyptic scenario unthinkable? W...

This isn't just any strike: it's a story of modern Britain, of workers suffering a cost of living crisis but with no major political party willing to champion them. These Coventry bin drivers are striking against a Labour council, and the Unite union is threatening to pull the plug on their funding for a cash-strapped Labour over the dispute. With the social crisis only set to escalate - this is a...

As Russia launches a war of aggression against Ukraine - has it backfired? There are signs the invasion may not be going to plan as Ukrainians courageously put up resistance, while anti-war sentiment has been expressed in surprising sections of Russian society. What are Putin's prospects, what happens next - and how is it all likely to end? We're joined from St. Petersburg by researcher and anti-w...

As Jeffrey Epstein's associate Jean-Luc Brunel is found hanged in a prison cell - after being accused of rape and supplying underage girls to the late US financier - we discuss the latest in this scandal. What does Prince Andrew's settlement with Virginia Giuffre really mean? What about the victim blaming against Virginia and other survivors? With Epstein and Brunel both dead, will we ever finally...

Afghanistan is now in the midst of the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Why? The US froze billions of pounds worth of its assets, and is now moving to steal half of it and give it to 9/11 victims' families. The country is languishing under punitive Western sanctions. The result: Afghanistan faces mass starvation. We are joined by Afghan lecturer Obaidullah Baheer and Iyad el-Baghdadi to talk thr...

This whole saga is completely infuriating. Kate Clanchy is an author who piled on a reviewer who called out racist and bigoted passages in her book; Clanchy denied she'd written them (actually, she had, except she'd written "Ashkenazi nose" rather than "Jewish nose", which is if anything worse), and called on everyone to report the review. What happened next? Women of colour who spoke out about it...

Oh good grief. Nadine Dorries - who is actually a Cabinet minister, with actual power - keeps being wheeled out to TV studios to defend the indefensible, with catastrophic consequences. If you didn't laugh, you'd cry - but what on earth does this tell us about the behaviour of the people running the country, who apparently have no shame at all? Please subscribe - and help us take on the right wing...

he Equalities and Human Rights Commission is supposed to be Britain's official equalities watchdog, but after u-turning on trans rights - after a series of Tory appointments and its former chair warning it was under political pressure to back the government agenda - it's been engulfed in scandal. Investigative work by journalist Ben Hunte has uncovered private meetings between the EHRC and anti-tr...

Despite overwhelming evidence of No. 10 parties, the Met refused to investigate them for weeks - until a last minute u-turn at just the right moment to sabotage the Sue Gray report. But is this behaviour really out of the ordinary for the Met? We're joined by Kevin Maxwell - a former Met police officer who detailed being abused for his race and sexuality in 'Forced Out' - and Alastair Morgan - the...

Is this finally the end of Boris Johnson? As his polling collapses, Sue Gray's report looms and Tory MPs plot, could this be the week when the Prime Minister's hubris meets its nemesis? More broadly, what next for the Tories - and what of the politicians and pundits who made him Tory leader know exactly what and who he was? We're joined by Adam Bienkov, Chief Westminster Correspondent at Byline Ti...

As Boris Johnson's government is convulsed by scandal and crisis, could this be not just the end of him - but the end of the Conservative party, too? That's what Peter Oborne - a longstanding Conservative supporter - thinks is entirely possible. Please subscribe - and help us take on the Tory media here: https://patreon.com/owenjones84 Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-owen-jones-po...

Has any government been so convulsed by such a catastrophically damaging scandal since World War II? As continued revelations about rampant partying in No. 10 envelop Boris Johnson, is it finally all over for him? Will he bring the Tories down with him - or will a leadership change allow them reboot? Is Labour triumphalism justified? We're joined by Peter Oborne - author of The Assault on Truth: B...

As Boris Johnson’s premiership is consumed in crisis after his repeated lies about multiple parties in No. 10, is it all over for him? Will he drag the Tories down with him? Are there even worse scandals? Will what comes next be even worse? Can’t imagine what that would look like? (We can). We are joined by Jolyon Maugham to explain how his Good Law Project successfully exposed the corruption of t...

As the dictatorship of Kazakhstan violently cracks down on protesters, what's really going on? What's the role of inequality and poverty - and the broken promises of the free market? Just what is the nature of the governing tyranny - and with Russian intervention, what does this mean for global politics? Kazakh voices have been far too erased from this coverage. That's why we're talking to sociolo...

Megastar actor Emma Watson has been falsely smeared as an anti-Semite by former Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon after posting a pro-Palestine message on Instagram. Here is a striking example of anti-Palestinian racism: of how even expressing mild sympathy with the plight of the Palestinians is portrayed as a grotesque act of hatred. This is just the latest attack on a public figure expressing sy...

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Nearly half a century after Salvador Allende's democratically socialist government was overthrown by Augusto Pinochet, the people of Chile decisively voted for leftist Gabriel Boric over far right extremist José Antonio Kast. Is the Latin American 'pink tide' back with a vengeance, what does this mean for Chile, the Continent and beyond - and what hope can we all draw from this huge triumph for th...

Nearly two years after COVID-19 was identified, and a year after mass vaccination began, Britain could be on the brink of another lockdown. How did we get here? How serious is Omicron? Is it intrinsically milder, will our antibodies keep it mild, will it cause less severe illness, hospitalisation and death - and what does the evidence from abroad tell us? We're joined by the Financial Times' brill...

Boris Johnson's government is in potentially terminal trouble as it is overwhelmed by lies and fury over parties in No. 10 while the country was in lockdown. Meanwhile, the country once again faces renewed COVID crisis as Omicron surges across the country. How bad are things for the Tories, has Keir Starmer's time really come - and how much of a mess is Britain in? We're joined by journalist Paul...

As Boris Johnson is plunged into crisis over the multiple secret parties that happened in 10 Downing Street that he and his government are lying about, is it over for the Prime Minister? Joining us are Novara's Ash Sarkar and Jo Goodman from COVID Bereaved Families, who lost her dad to a virus the government allowed to let rip with catastrophic consequences. Please subscribe - and help us take on...

As a Tory Cabinet minister tells the Times newspaper that the Omicron crisis puts the government in a "Remarkable position" and "should put us in a good place for the new year", we look carefully at the facts - what do we know, how bad is it, and how do we avoid another lockdown? We are joined by Prof. Deenan Pillay from University College London. Please subscribe - and help us take on the right-w...